Comments

I believe that if this is true and Turner Gill is coming to Kansas, we have made the best hire possible. I just get a real good feeling about Turner. One thing for sure he won't be found cussing out the meter person. I also bet that he will be able to find his parking spot on the first try and won't be trying to create one out by the dumpster.
Turner Gill is a class guy who will do very well at Kansas.

I hope for the sake of the University and the players that he does well, but I can't help but feel he can't handle coaching in the Big XII after having a 20-30 record as a mid-major coach.

I'm sure he was about 3rd or 4th on the list or they would have offered it to him much sooner. He does have some Texas ties which should help in recruiting but he needs to have a better staff than what he has at Buffalo. I would have taken a big time program's assistant who could bring in several big time assistants and recruiters from this area.

Are you kidding? This guy has less credibility than ANY big 12 assistant coach. There is no reason to hire this guy whatsoever. They might as well just let the defensive coordinator run the program for a year and see how he does. If all you people want out of your football coach is a nice guy, have someone from the english department at KU run the football team. I want a football team that wins games in the big 12. If this hire is true, it looks as if we will be heading back to the days of Terry Allen and 3-9 seasons. Is it really that hard to think that a decent football coach with REAL credibility would want to come to KU? They have between $2.5 and $2.9 million dollars per year to pay, new facilities, talk of a new "Gridiron Club", and have won some legitimate bowl games in the last couple of years. Give me Tommy Tuberville, Skip Holtz, Kevin Sumlin, or Brent Venables any day. We need someone with a big name and REAL potential to lead this program and bring in big-time recruits. Turner Gill would do a great job, at Blue Valley Northwest or Tonganoxie High School, but he has no business going up against Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, or even Gary Pinkel.

Yes, and Mangino lost to teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Missouri. I believe they are all going to bowl games and one of them is playing for the national championship. Another of them came 1 second away from beating Texas.

Gill lost to teams like Bowling Green, Temple, and Western Michigan... oh and Pitt!

rgh and jayhawks71: Gill lost with MAC talent to MAC teams. ManJupiter lost with NFL-caliber talent (Reesing, Briscoe, Meier, Onyegbule) to the likes of K-State, Colorado, and an Oklahoma team that was a shell of its usual self.

As far as his 20-30 record at a mid-major: He got twice as many wins in five seasons as the school had managed in its previous six seasons since moving up to Division 1-A (or whatever the NCAA's marketing people want to call it now). They went from 2-10 his first season to a conference title and bowl bid in his fourth (beating an undefeated team ranked #12 to get said title).

Credibility compared to Big-12 coaches? How about finalist for the Assistant Coach of the Year while at his alma mater--where, as QB coach, he helped produce an All-American (Frazier) and a Heisman winner (Crouch).

Gill sounds like a wonderful man and I hope Lew made the right choice. If Lew had the chance to hire coaches who had shown they could win like Harbaugh, Sumlin, Holtz, or Edsall and took a losing coach instead, he'd best hope this works out or he should be out the door (and I'm mostly a Perkins supporter) for a really poor hire.

Gill seems like Allen to me, without the wins before he came to KU. I just hope I'm wrong, but all I see is a coach who had losing records 75% of the time in the MAC replacing a winning coach in the Big 12. Looks like a major mistake to me.

And his daughter went to work in the athletic department a while back. Sorry fans, this whole thing stinks to high heaven. I wish him well, but I've seen excitement over a new coach turn into 4 seasons of 2-10, a firing, and the whole thing start over again.

Torbush and Long complete the new coaches resume. At Oklahoma Long won many games leading Oklahoma's offensive. Torbush was a powerfull defensive coach at Ole Miss. in the SEC. Also, did outstanding at North Carolina and one season at Alabama. Looks like many good days ahead for KU Football.

"Gill lost with MAC talent to MAC teams. ManJupiter lost with NFL-caliber talent (Reesing, Briscoe, Meier, Onyegbule) to the likes of K-State, Colorado, ..."

Drew Willy (QB) was just signed by the Indianapolis Colts. Jamey Richard (OG) plays for the Colts. Trevor Scott (DE) plays for the Raiders. James Starks is an NFL caliber running back. Naaman Roosevelt is an NFL caliber wide receiver. Gill lost with NFL caliber talent.

And before you get all giddy about how Gill can recruit NFL talent to play for him, of those named above, only Roosevelt was nabbed by Gill. Who are these great players that people have claimed that Gill recruited to play at lowly Buffalo? Granted, the man had a Herculean task to do so, but people are touting his successful recruiting to Buffalo. I ask who has he recruited to Buffalo? Not the guys I just mentioned. Perhaps he had amazing players there that went 5-7 this past year. But then won't he have "lost with NFL caliber talent" on his team?

Reesing ... NFL caliber? I think you're stretching a bit. But, I will play along. Weren't "NFL caliber" Reesing, Briscoe, and Meier the guys on the field that either threw interceptions or fumbled the ball away at critical moments this season? Don't get me wrong, these three have been wonderful players for KU--all players have bad games. They are responsible for a good deal of the success, but Mangino didn't throw 3 picks against the "shell" OU, Reesing did. Mangino didn't fumble the ball 2 times against Mizzou, Briscoe did... although, Mangino is oh-so responsible for the end of the game debacle. Mangino didn't fumble the ball at the Nebraska 4-yd line, Kerry Meier did. Yes, each of these guys has made wonderful and amazing plays in their time at KU, I don't deny that. And sure, the buck stops with the head coach when a team is unprepared/poorly prepared to play, manages time poorly, and makes poor play calls, but as for taking care of the ball on the field, that's on the players.

"...and an Oklahoma team that was a shell of its usual self."
Sure they were a shell of their usual selves, but let's not attempt to characterize them as the Buffalo Bulls. This was a 7-5 team that beat the No. 12 BCS ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys 27-0. This was an OU team that lost 4 of those 5 games by a combined 12 points. This is an OU that lost 5 games only to teams in bowl games, one of which is playing for the national championship. And, let's not forget that Reesing threw 3 INTs that game, the first was on the very first play of the game.